In Search of a Legitimate Labor Movement

By Edward Ring
01/19/2016
Sarah has worked for a major grocery store chain for the past 25 years. Adjusting for inflation, she makes less now than she did over a decade ago, especially since her hours were cut in order for her employer to avoid being required to offer her health insurance. Even more difficult, she is “on call”...

TAGS: private sector unions, public sector unions

Moral Values That Underlie Opposition to Government Unions

By Edward Ring
10/13/2015
Often missing from entirely legitimate criticism of government unions is an accompanying explanation of the moral values that underlie the criticism. Last month we published a post entitled “Deceptive and Misleading Claims – How Government Unions Fool the Public,” which listed ten myths that government unions use repeatedly in their propaganda campaigns. Missing in that...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, government pension funds, government unions, labor movement, public sector unions, Vergara lawsuit

How Government Unions Are Destroying America

By Edward Ring
09/22/2015
Not one presidential candidate, apart from Gov. Walker’s last-ditch rhetoric prior to dropping out, has discussed the problems with unionized government as a major issue. That’s too bad, because these problems are bigger than even most critics acknowledge. When people discuss the need to reform, if not eliminate, public sector unions, the only reason typically...

TAGS: education reform, government unions, public sector unions

Deceptive and Misleading Claims – How Government Unions Fool the Public

By Edward Ring
09/08/2015
California’s public sector unions collect and spend well over $1.0 billion per year. When you have that much money, you can hire thousands of skilled professionals to wage campaigns, litigate, lobby, negotiate, and communicate. You can hire the best public relations firms money can buy. You can commission research studies that spin facts to support...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, government pension funds, government unions, labor movement, public sector unions, Vergara lawsuit

Caltrans Union Spokesman Understates Engineers' Cost by $71M

By Robert Fellner
08/25/2015
In a hearing on Senator Moorlach’s SBX1-9 (Responsible Contacting for Caltrans) bill, Ted Toppin of the Professional Engineers in California Government (PECG) made a series of demonstrably false claims regarding the cost of Caltrans engineers. Toppin claimed that the cost of a fully-loaded engineer – including all wages, benefits and even the cost of their office and service truck –...

TAGS: CalTrans, public sector unions

What Happens When Public Unions Control Everything for Decades?

By Mike Shedlock
07/29/2015
Editor’s Note:  California and Illinois have a lot in common. Both have diverse, resilient economies, both are large states with most of the population concentrated in urban areas, and both have been controlled for decades by public sector unions. The crucial difference, of course, is that at least in Illinois, there is a reform minded...

TAGS: government employee unions, pension reform, public pensions, public sector unions

Libertarians, Government Unions, and Infrastructure Development

By Edward Ring
05/05/2015
“Alright, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?” –  John Cleese, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, 1979 Any discussion of California’s neglected infrastructure has to recognize the three factors most responsible, libertarians, environmentalists, and...

TAGS: California infrastructure, environmentalists, libertarians, pension fund solvency, private sector unions, public sector unions

California Democrat Goes Rogue, Incurs Government Union Wrath

By Private: Gloria Romero
03/26/2015
It didn’t take long for “the brotherhood” of status quo politics to pile on. Within hours of former Assembly member Joan Buchanan having lost her election bid for Northern California’s 7th Senate District seat in last week’s special election to fill the vacancy, she endorsed labor-embraced and fellow Democratic Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord. Together, they...

TAGS: Gloria Romero, government unions, public sector unions, Steve Glazer

Unions – The Biggest Bullies in the School House

By R. Claire Friend
10/09/2014
There has been a great deal of public attention on the problem of bullying in our public schools. Issues such as possible causes as well as appropriate administrative and legal remedies have been hotly debated across the country by educators, parents and politicians with varying responses. The focus of bullying heretofore has been limited to...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, Friedrichs vs. the CTA, Harris vs. Quinn, public sector unions, teachers union